A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in the Allahabad High Court seeking postponement of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly elections.
The petitioner prayed to reject the election schedule fixed by the Election commission (EC). He sought a direction to the Election Commission of ‘Bharat’ to conduct the upcoming elections in the months of April and May 2022 rather than February and March 2022.
The plea was moved by Atul Kumar and some other individuals through Advocate Ashok Pandey. He said that the petitioners are keen to vote but they might not be able to do the same because of the prevailing situation of Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, they seek direction to postpone the election schedule to April-May.
The petitioners also added that as per the law, the General election of Parliament and Assembly is held after the dissolution of the Assembly or Lok Sabha, therefore, the U.P. Assembly elections should also be held only after the completion of the term of the existing Assembly.
“Ordinarily, the election is to be held when the term of the existing Assembly has come to an end or it has been dissolved. As an exception, it can be held sometimes within the period of six months prior to the term of existing Assembly has come to an end.”
The PIL argued that the term of the existing Assembly of Uttar Pradesh is up to May 2022 and therefore, it is highly unreasonable, unjust and improper decision of the Election Commission to conduct the elections when the third wave of Covid is at its peak and there are still two months left for the completion of the assembly, this is violative of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of Constitution. This could lead to further spread of Covid like it happened during the UP-Panchayat Polls and West Bengal Assembly elections 2021.
“Because, there is reasonable possibility as has happened earlier at Panchayat elections in UP in 2021 and West Bengal Assembly elections 2021 led to sharp rise and spreading of COVID-19 cases across the State and Nation.”